A man is found dead inside a home that burned in the Chesterfield community. According to WSOC-TV, firefighters responded around 7:30 Tuesday night to the blaze on Piney Road. The victim's name was not released and the fire remains under investigation.

An Old Fort man, wanted for months for setting his home ablaze, is in custody. The McDowell County Sheriff's Office Thursday, arrested 48-year-old Randy Keith Hensley. He was charged in connection with an explosion October 25th, at a mobile home on Nightingale Drive in Old Fort, which was occupied by Hensley and his mother. The mobile home sustained an estimated $20,000 worth of damage. The Sheriff's Office, McDowell County Emergency Management, SBI and U.S.ATF determined the fire was set intentionally. Hensley had been on the run from law enforcement until his arrest last week.

Hickory City Council met Tuesday night, which included a presentation of the Distinguished Budget Award. A Departmental Report about the Riverwalk project was heard and passed. The Riverwalk project is part of the bond referendum that Hickory voters approved in 2014. The Riverwalk will be a pedestrian pathway, running along the shore of Lake Hickory between Rotary-Geitner Park and the US 321 bridge.

A Hickory man will spend the next 26 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder and concealing/failing to report a death during Catawba County Superior Court on Tuesday. The Honorable Lori Hamilton, Superior Court Judge from Davie County, sentenced 44-year-old Rickey Allen Payne to an active prison term of 26 to 32 years, following his guilty plea to killing 48-year-old Loretta Joyce Chadwick of Hickory and concealing her body under the bed in a Hickory motel room.